10 Healthy Junk Food Recipes, Ranked from Best to Worst

Cooking blogs are filled with recipes that promise the world. Healthy chocolate mousse made from avocados? Delicious low-fat Alfredo with cauliflower instead of cream? We tested 10 of these healthy junk food dishes to see if they really work.

Anyone who pretends to believe in New Year’s resolutions has made a pledge to eat healthier in 2014. And regardless of whether you hop on the bandwagon of raw veganism, juice-cleansing, or any other trendy diet, most experts will agree that we could all use more nutrient-packed foods like vegetables, fruits, and beans in our lives.

The trouble is that there are only so many Chop’t salad one can scarf down before the primal urges for creamy, salty, fatty, and sweet kick in and that pint of ice cream feels like an acceptable dinner. If only there was a way to make vegetables as appealing as the dessert table, right?

Pinterest is flooded with ‘healthy junk food’ recipes telling us we can eat brownies for breakfast and still lose weight—the dieter’s Holy Grail.

Turns out, there might be. While you may not be able to turn carrots into cookies, it is possible to turn bananas into ice cream, beets into red velvet cake, and cauliflower into pizza. Pinterest is flooded with “healthy junk food” recipes telling us we can eat brownies for breakfast and still lose weight—the dieter’s Holy Grail.

Of course, it’s natural to feel a little skeptical about these miracle recipes. While the photos of mason jars overflowing with caramel made from crushed dates look gorgeous on the screen, does the finished product actually taste good in your out kitchen?

Recently, I embarked on a mission to test out many of these dishes—from cauliflower “tater tots,” to “chocolate mousse” made from avocados—to see if they’re worth their low-sodium salt. The caramel was actually great. Other recipes? Not so much.

While not all were successful, the ones that were are game-changers that would make a fine addition to your home-cooking repertoire. Some are easier to prepare than others, but access to a food processor is pretty critical across the board.

Here are the 10 “healthy junk food” recipes I cooked, ranked from most to least successful; the photos on the left are what you’ll find strewn across Pinterest, and the ones on the right are the finished dishes from my own kitchen.

Fettucine Alfredo

Recipe: Unlost
Difficulty (1-10): 5 (you need some knife skills)
What it's made from: Cauliflower (plus garlic, milk, lemon, and Parmesan cheese)
What it actually tastes like: Alfredo sauce when hot, garlic mashed potatoes when cold.
My embarrassing guilty pleasure is the fettuccine Alfredo at Olive Garden, or the "fatten-yo-chin" Alfredo as my dad lovingly calls it due to it's obscene fat content. The chain's version has something like 75 grams of fat and 1,220 calories in a single serving. This version, made from wholesome cauliflower, maybe has 10 grams of fat in the entire recipe (which makes enough for six people), and it honestly kicks Olive Garden's ass. Sometimes Alfredo sauce can be far too rich, but this version strikes a perfect balance between creaminess and brightness. The addition of a small amount of garlic-infused butter really elevates the sauce to something that's all too easy to eat straight out of the bowl. It's fantastic over ribbons of pasta or even mixed into a bowl of rice. It also takes on a mashed potato-like quality when at room temp, which is never a bad thing.

Salted Caramel

Recipe:My New Roots
Difficulty (1-10): 4
What it's made from: Dates (plus almond butter, lemon juice, vanilla, and sea salt)
What it actually tastes like: A thicker, less intense salted caramel
Caramel is typically a fussy ordeal involving heating sugar to a precise temperature and folding in dairy at just the right time. Real salted caramel, while thick and heavenly, is pure refined sugar with heavy cream—not exactly the building blocks of a healthy body. So when I stumbled across a raw caramel (uncooked in order to preserve maximum nutrition) made from water-soaked dates, nut butter, lemon, and vanilla simply blended together with flaky sea salt in a food processor, I was intrigued. How could dates and almond butter mimic the fiercely unique flavor of salted caramel? Turns out the key is lemon juice and vanilla, which are evocative of caramel's rich flavor. It's doesn't quite pack the punch of the real stuff, but it has a surprisingly pleasant and mellow caramel flavor that works well on waffles or apple slices. Or just do like I did and eat it straight out of the jar by the (heaping) spoonful.

Chocolate Frosty

Recipe: Just a Pinch
Difficulty (1-10): 2
What it's made from: Bananas (plus cocoa powder and milk)
What it actually tastes like: A healthy chocolate milkshake
What's most genius about this recipe is that it genuinely feels like you're drinking a milkshake for breakfast, which in my book is all kinds of winning. Frozen bananas magically transform into an ice cream-like substance when blended; when they're combined with a splash of milk and a hit of deep chocolate flavor, the end result is pure money. Though not as sweet or thick as a typical frosty, this is a worthy substitute whenever the craving hits. Honestly, this is something anyone can make as long as they have access to a decent blender. Pro tip: throw in a spoonful of peanut butter for a gluttonous yet still healthy shake that genuinely rivals the sinful version.

Tater Tots

Recipe: Skinny Taste
Difficulty (1-10): 8
What it's made from: Cauliflower (plus onion, garlic salt, cheddar, bread crumbs, and egg)
What it actually tastes like: A baked potato loaded with garlic, onion, and cheese
While this recipe was the most challenging to make, it was also incredibly good. Cauliflower mimics the taste and texture of potatoes quite well when "riced" (cooked and processed into small pieces resembling rice.) Of course, the knockoff tots woudl be infinitely better fried, but they would also be drastically less healthy.
Half the fun of tater tots is their distinctive shape, and this mixture was difficult to roll and form. While they are a bit of effort, it's an easy way to convince people to snack on cauliflower, especially kids. The cheese and the addition of garlic salt (in place of fresh parsley) helped transform the dish from tasting like a wholesome baked vegetable, to something more at home on a a greasy bar menu. I only wish there was a way to mimic the crunch exterior typically associated with a tater tot without dunking them in a vat of hot fat.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe:Pure Ella
Difficulty (1-10): 2
What's it made from: Banana (plus oats and chocolate chips)
What it actually tastes like: A granola bar meets a bowl of warm oatmeal
If something is a cookie simple because it's a mound that has been baked, then yes, this a cookie. Form aside, it tastes more like a hybrid between a bowl of granola and a bowl of warm, mushy oatmeal. And it's actually pretty tasty, just not particularly cookie-like. Making the dish is mind-blowingly easy—just mash banana, mix in oats and chocolate chips, scoop the mixture into mounds onto a baking sheet, and put it in the oven. Done. It's a quicker and healthier alternative to banana bread when you need to use up bananas, plus they are portable, which actually makes them a decent on-the-go breakfast, especially if you have a sweet tooth. I found they were best served warm with a scoop of vanilla-bean ice cream.

Chocolate Truffles

Recipes:Love Food Eat
Difficulty (1-10): 3
What it's made from: Dates (plus cocoa powder and vanilla)
What it actually tastes like: Dates rolled in cocoa powder
Of all the recipes I tried, this tasted most like the ingredients that went into it. I happen to love both dates and the deeply bitter flavor of cocoa powder. However, if you were on the hunt for a chocolate truffle substitute, this is only a half-way solution.
On the plus side, the natural sweetness from the dates does actually curb sugar cravings incredibly well. Another benefit of the recipe is that there is no cooking involved—all you have to know how to do is operate a food processor and places things in a fridge. Be warned: These are actually quite rich and intense; the recipe yields around 10-12 truffles, and none of my friends could stomach more than one or two at a time.

Chocolate Mousse

Recipe: Instructables
Difficulty (1-10): 2
What it's made from: Avocado (plus cocoa powder, milk, vanilla, and honey)
What it actually tastes like: Nutella and your morning avocado toast decided to have a baby
Airy yet decadent, a good chocolate mousse is one of the best end notes to a meal. This healthy imposter, however, is not a mousse. While it's quite creamy, the results are much thicker and more pudding-like—which isn't a bad thing. Like many other dishes on this list, it is a raw take on a dessert that is typically cooked, this time swapping out a base of eggs and cream for avocado, which delivers a palate-pleasing level of fattiness.
While the cocoa powder does a decent job of masking the avocado flavor, it's not completely successful. Another con? Avocado oxidizes incredibly quickly, so while the color won't change as drastically as it does with guacamole, the taste will deteriorate quickly. If I were to make this again, I would add melted chocolate chips to better hide the avocado, then top with candied nuts for an added crunch.

Brownies

Recipe:Chocolate and Carrots
Difficulty (1-10): 3
What it's made from: Black beans (plus eggs, cocoa powder, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips)
What it actually tastes like: Brownies made from black beans
When I first came across this recipe on Pinterest, my jaw dropped, since the dessert pictured looked even fudgier, gooier, and more chocolatey than most normal brownies. The fact that they had no refined flours—not to mention plus a hefty dose of fiber and protein from black beans—blew my mind. As in all other areas of life, looks can be misleading. A food processor makes this recipe incredibly easy and quick to make, but that is about the only positive thing I have to say about it. The "brownies" failed to be as fudgy, gooey, or super chocolatey as promised, and instead fell completely flat. While they didn't have an intensely bean-y flavor, they didn't have much flavor at all. As my roommate so eloquently put it, they were simply "meh." Perhaps some things are better left in their naturally glorious junk-food state.

Cookie Dough

Recipe:Chocolate Covered Katie
Difficulty (1-10): 4
What it's made from: Chickpeas (plus almond butter, vanilla, honey, and chocolate chips)
What it actually tastes like: Grainy, sugary hummus that no amount of chocolate chips could mask
As someone who wishes cookie dough was an actual food group, I was the most excited to make this dish. The recipe, in theory, is the high-protein, low-sugar, nutrient-rich answer to all of my dreams. The dish has made the rounds on Pinterest, and it is linked back to a reputable food blogger who even goes so far as to label the recipe a reader favorite—so I figured it was a safe bet.
Whoops. While it sounded (and looked) fantastic, it was in reality a bigger fail than Sochi's preparedness for the Olympics. Although I spent five minutes thoroughly rinsing a can of drained chickpeas in cold water, doubled the honey, and whizzed the mixture past smoothness, there was nothing I could do to remove the bean-like taste in my mouth. Even dumping a full cup of chocolate chips into the mixture couldn't save it from tasting like hummus with an identity crisis.
Perhaps it would have been better with brown sugar in place of the honey, but even then, I'm dubious of its potential. I forced it upon my roommate, who's palate is far less picky, and while he couldn't pinpoint chickpeas, "it definitely didn't taste like cookie dough." I have no idea what kind of cookie dough the blogger and her readers grew up eating, but that's a childhood I never want to experience. Officially on my "never fucking make again" list.

Cream Cheese Frosted Cake

Recipe:Shape.com
Difficulty (1-10): 5
What it's made from: Red cabbage (plus oats, egg, applesauce, cinnamon, honey, cream cheese, and Greek yogurt)
What it actually tastes like: As if someone regurgitated a meal of coleslaw and carrot cake… and decided to re-bake it.
To call this a cake is actually a real stretch of the imagination. It was more like a flatbread with an intense purple-red hue and distinctly vegetal taste—a far cry from the carrot cake-like flavor it was aiming for. The instructions from Shape's website recommend adding sugar if you prefer sweet cakes, but it's not written into the recipe. I prefer to have my cakes taste like dessert, so I added honey (healthier than sugar, but also many times sweeter) figuring it would add a nice depth to the flavor. Instead, I could taste all the healthy ingredients, but not in a good way. While the cream cheese-Greek yogurt frosting mixture was actually quite good (I added a bit of vanilla and honey), even that combo couldn't mask the salad-like flavor of the so-called "cake." Furthermore, even though I baked it in the exact sized pan and temperature called for in the recipe, the batter failed to rise, and the result was so thin and dry that I actually quartered the cake and stacked the entire thing to make it less depressing for the photo (on the right, above). What looks like a slice was actually the entirety of the dessert. File this one under "Fail."

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